Your Story: Assignment #1 Your Hero’s Journey – Part 1: The Departure

One of the most important things to remember about brand storytelling is that you are NOT the hero of the story. Your client is.

You are actually the mentor of the story that your business tells.

That being said, you DO have your own heroic story. One that we’ll want to incorporate into specific pieces of your marketing copy (like the About Page on your website).

For the next few assignments, do these exercises with an toward both you as the hero, and your client as the hero. See where — if at all — your stories line up.

Every hero’s journey begins with the Departure. In your case, the Departure is the moment you or your client began to pursue your current business or activity.

Assignment: Get out of a piece of paper so you can take notes. 😉

Read over these elements and find the place(s) in your own life that correspond to as many of them as you can. Write down in a few sentences for each element, what happened in your life that could be considered…

Your Call to Adventure – The call to adventure is the point in a person’s life when they are first given notice that everything is going to change, whether they know it or not.

Refusal of the Call – Often when the call is given, the future hero refuses to heed it. This may be from a sense of duty or obligation, fear, insecurity, a sense of inadequacy, or any of a range of reasons that work to hold the person in his or her current circumstances.

Supernatural Aid – Once the hero has committed to the quest, consciously or unconsciously, his or her guide and magical helper appears, or becomes known.

The Crossing of the First Threshold – This is the point where the person actually crosses into the field of adventure, leaving the known limits of his or her world and venturing into an unknown and dangerous realm where the rules and limits are not known.

The Belly of the Whale – The belly of the whale represents the final separation from the hero’s known world and self. It is sometimes described as the person’s lowest point, but it is actually the point when the person is between or transitioning between worlds and selves. The separation has been made, or is being made, or being fully recognized between the old world and old self and the potential for a new world/self. The experiences that will shape the new world and self will begin shortly, or may be beginning with this experience which is often symbolized by something dark, unknown and frightening. By entering this stage, the person shows their willingness to undergo a metamorphosis, to die to him or herself.

What prompted your own call to adventure? What prompted your Ideal Client’s call to adventure?